


Summer Rain

by beedekka



Category: Riptide (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Humor, M/M, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-09
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-07-14 03:15:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7150814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beedekka/pseuds/beedekka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Unseasonal weather keeps Nick and Cody stuck indoors.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Summer Rain

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tinx_r](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tinx_r/gifts).



“Uh, Nick? How about you knock it off now, okay?”

“What?” Nick looked over at Cody, startled. His inattention nearly caused him to miss catching the baseball that was rebounding towards him off the wall of the Riptide.

“The baseball. You’ve thrown it and caught it and thrown it and caught it off that same piece of panelling a hundred times already. Thunk thunk thunk…”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t think it was bothering you. I found the sweet spot - neat, huh?” He tossed it again, spinning it perfectly so that it flicked up and back at him. Thunk.

“I can see it’s quite a feat,” Cody deadpanned, “but it’s also pretty distracting. Since you’ve obviously got it nailed, perhaps you could move onto something else; preferably something _quiet_.”

Nick shrugged. “Sure, no problem.” He set the baseball on the table and slid onto the bench seat, taking up position at the spacious corner turn and staring out of the window at the steadily pouring rain.

“Thank you,” Cody said, returning his concentration to the magazine feature he’d been trying to get through for the past thirty minutes.

_Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap._

He peered back over the top of the pages. Nick was frowning fiercely at the drops hitting the glass, and his fingers had started drumming on the wooden benchback in time with the sound of the water. Cody sighed. “Nick?”

“Yeah?”

“Your fingers…” He gestured. “That’s also a distracting noise.”

Nick glanced at his hand, and abruptly stilled the drumming. “Sorry – didn’t realise I was doing it.”

“That’s okay. You know now.”

“This storm isn’t letting up at all.”

“It isn’t forecast to,” Cody murmured, already settling back into his article.

“I hate it when it’s like this. Can’t get anything done because it’s too damn wet. Can’t go anywhere because it’s too damn wet. No cases, since no one will venture out to hire us, because it’s–”

“…too damn wet,” Cody finished with him. “It’s a pain in the ass, I agree, but can you maybe just pass the time in silence for a while? I’d really like to finish this in peace.”

“Hey, what is it that’s got you so enthralled, anyway?” Nick leaned over the table to read off the front of the magazine. “Business Intelligence: Investing for your future. Find twenty top tips by the experts inside.” He scoffed. “Either the agency is doing a whole lot better than I thought, or you’re playing the ‘invest your imaginary money in some boring imaginary future’ game again; you know, when you start reading those articles I start to worry.”

Cody gave him a ‘look’. “I happen to enjoy reading the business press, even if I don’t have the money or the intention of investing. It’s called keeping up with the world around us, Nick – stimulating the mind a little bit. You should try it sometime.”

“Oh yeah? Sounds like a waste of time to me; reading all about a stiff in a suit advising you on how to become another stiff in a suit.”

“Well, you’re not the one wasting your time reading it, are you? I am.”

Nick grinned and Cody bit his lip exasperatedly. “I mean, I’m _not_. I’m not wasting my time, and, actually, I’m not even currently reading it, thanks to you. Haven’t you got any kind of indoor chore you could be getting along with, like rearranging the closet or something?”

“Rearraging the closet?” Nick's amused expression only deepened. “We’ve got about five outfits between us – I don’t think it really needs a lot of work.”

“So, there’s nothing you could be doing right now apart from sitting here disturbing me?”

Nick thought for a moment, and Cody watched his eyes light up. 

“The junk drawer! We’ve been saying how one of us should clear that out for ages.” Nick jumped to his feet and went over to the built-in galley. “Great idea, Cody.”

And before he could protest, Nick had fetched the drawer and dumped the large pile of accumulated contents all across the table top. Of course, it was ninety-nine per cent made up by pieces of cutlery, loose nuts and bolts, random bits of other metal, and old coins. Cody winced as Nick spread it around loudly and started picking up things and dropping them down again.

“Just look at this crap!” Nick exclaimed.

“Would it be too much to ask that you could attempt to sort it out while making a little less of a song and dance about it, then? ‘Cause it kinda defeats the object of the exercise if your ‘quiet task’ rattles like the Mimi’s motor on a good day.”

Nick glared at him. “First off, Mimi’s motor purrs like a kitten, and second, will you quit being so damn sensitive to every little noise all of a sudden… Ignore it.”

“That’s easier said than done. For the last half hour, all you’ve been doing is stalking around here like a trapped cat, choosing the noisiest and most irritating things to move and do.”

“I have not.”

“How long did you spend trying to tune in the broken radio and getting nothing but static?”

“… Twenty minutes,” Nick admitted.

“And after that, how many times did you wind up and ‘test’ the kitchen timer?”

“… Five.”

“Some people might say that was four times too many, and _then_ you found the baseball. Is it any wonder that my ears have become sensitised to the sounds you’re making?”

Nick gave the drawer contents a despondent push away and dropped down heavily onto the bench again. “Aw, come on, you know I’m bad at this kind of weather – I go stir crazy bein’ cooped up in here. I guess I’m just not made for sitting and reading a book all day like you are.”

“Why don’t you watch a movie then?” Cody asked. “Put on one of those old classics you like so much and kill time with that.”

“I looked at the schedule already – nothing’s on.”

Cody sighed. “Okay, take a nap for a while.”

“Not tired.”

“Count to a thousand.”

“One, two, three…”

_“In your head!”_

There was a pause while they both scowled at each other. Then Cody saw the lines at the corners of Nick’s eyes start to crinkle, and the dimples threatening to appear at either side of his mouth.

“Now who’s bein’ loud?” Nick asked, and Cody smiled in spite of himself.

“I was provoked,” he countered, “by the most exasperating man I know.”

“Yeah yeah.” Nick shook his head and leaned back, stretching his arms up high. “If it was sunny, you know I’d be straight out there working on the Mimi, or the ‘Vette. I gotta keep my hands busy or I get into mischief.”

“Is that right?” Cody watched the way the movement of Nick’s arms caused his muscles to flex and his untucked t-shirt to ride up and flash a glimpse of his tanned abdomen.

“Uh huh. I get… frustrated.”

Another time, Cody would’ve laughed out loud at his partner’s shameless change of tac, but truthfully, the sight of that toned stomach and the teasing entendre in Nick’s words was enough to soften his mood and tempt his thoughts away from the business pages. He discarded the magazine on the table with the pile of junk. “You want a task to do with your hands?”

“Mmm hmm.” Nick nodded.

“Then I think I can suggest something, but it might not be the quietest pastime either…”

 

-fin-


End file.
